Flip Sight Singing for Piano Students with this Beginning Solfa Video

Do you do much singing in your studio? Do you see sight singing as an important skill for piano students to learn? Do you make use of the solfa system in your teaching?

I started using solfa for sight singing because my piano students needed a way to get through the singing test in their piano exams. This took a big weight off my students’ shoulders when it came to exam day.

Slowly but surely, I’ve been doing more and more singing in all my piano teaching. Singing can enhance practice, train the musical ear, and provide a greater understanding of music in general.

The Value of Sight Singing

As a student, I thought that sight singing exercises were the most embarrassing and evil entity to ever cross the face of this earth.Well, pretty much anyway.

As a teacher I’ve come to see the value in sight singing, and singing in general. I forced myself to sing in front of my students until I got really comfortable with it. Fake it ’til you make it style. And I’m glad I did because there are more benefits than I had even realised.

Practiced singers are better at…

Understanding note relationships

Identifying scales and key signatures

Note reading

Recognising patterns

Sight reading preparation

Playing musically and artistically

Understanding music theory

Is that enough reasons for you? If you’re convinced but you need a practical system to teach singing, good news! That’s where solfa comes in.

Why Sight Sing with Solfa

When I did singing exercises growing up, I did them with the “la, la, la” system – i.e. no system at all. I felt completely lost the whole time I was singing. The only compass I had was up, or down. Not a very accurate orienteering project.

My interest in solfa started as a way to prevent my own students from feeling this way. Giving each scale degree a singable name makes so much sense. That way, students don’t have to grope around in the dark – they have solfa to guide them. They have something to hook onto.

The Kodály approach starts solfa with the pentascale. This is a great way to begin as this is the most natural scale. In most cultures, folk and children’s songs are built around the pentascale.

Thinking Theory Video: Beginning Solfa

I’m not a full-on Kodály teacher – I don’t start my students with just so and mi. For me, it’s better to start piano students with do, re, mi and so; adding la later on and eventually the full major scale. This is comfortable reading territory for piano students and gives them a swift start with solfa.

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About Nicola

Nicola has been teaching piano since 2005 and runs a creative piano teaching studio in Dublin, Ireland. Nicola believes in music lessons that motivate and inspire, and shares some of her ideas for vibrant piano lessons on the Colourful Keys blog.

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